What A Shitty Game
by MiniMooseTheSecond
Summary: John can't always be happy-go-lucky, can he? one-shot, drabble, JohnJade


They were having fun playing a shitty game when John's smile suddenly faded and he set down the controller. Jade frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"I just realized I'm never going to see my dad again." John stared at the screen unseeing.

"You- you just realized that?" Jade asked uncertainly. It had been several months, everyone had come to terms with their sorrows by now. She'd thought, at least.

"Yeah, I just," John paused, his throat swelling. He looked at her, and she could see the distress in his face, water filling his eyes. "I wasn't really thinking about it before, but now, now I'm just-" He stopped again, trying to stop himself from crying, obviously. Jade scooted closer to him and put her arm around his shoulder. He immediately put his arms around her and stuffed his face into her shoulder.

"There there, John. It's okay, it's alright," She cooed at him, trying to be properly comforting. He shuddered out a sigh, and she felt her shirt getting wet from tears. Oh god. She didn't know how to handle this. The last time someone cried near her she ended up getting frustrated and angry and slapped her. That was different, of course, but she had still never properly been there for someone who was crying before. And John, John was always the one smiling, the optimist, the bright sunshine through the gloomy clouds, and so on. John didn't really _get_ upset.

"I'm never going to see my dad or bake stupid cakes with him or pull pranks and I'm never going to play on my dangerous ghosty ride and get hurt or sleep in my bed again or get to do magic tricks at school and I'm never going to see my home again ever." John sobbed, still trying to hold back the storm of emotion, failing a bit.

"No, no, it's okay John it's okay! You have me, and you have Davesprite and Jaspers and your Nanna, and pretty soon we'll see Rose and Dave again, and you'll get to meet Karkat and Vriska and all the other Trolls very soon!" John shook his head at every word, and muttered "no, no, no" and Jade knew he was right.

"We'll see them again in how long? Three years? Jesus we'll be so old by then! And who knows what will happen in between? What if we're all totally different then? What if Dave is not even suave or cool in the slightest or Rose has gone off the deep end and what if Vriska turns into some boring harpy? What if one of the trolls goes crazy again and kills everyone some more? What if they all get caught by Jack?" John couldn't stop himself from talking at this point, his eyes were red, tears streaming but all he could do was hold onto Jade's shoulders and just talk.

"John-"

"Something bad will happen I know it, that's all that happens it seems like, everyone just dies and gets hurt and goes evil and then dies some more and I don't know what to _do_ Jade, I just don't know if I can handle it, I'm only thirteen, I didn't want to do this, I'm the Hero of Wind sure but I don't _want_ to be right now! I just want to be a doofy kid who does magic tricks and reads pranking books and I only wanted to play a game with my friends all I want to do now is see my dad again,"

"John, stop it."

"We can't even talk to Rose or Dave, I mean Davesprite is nice but I want to talk to _our _Dave, and I want everything to go back to normal and I want to go home!"

"..."

Jade pressed John's head into her chest and pet his hair, shooshing him softly. He cried. She wanted to tell him they'd go home soon. She wanted to say everything would be fine. She wanted to use her witchy spacey powers to make him feel better and assure him of their safety, but all she could do was hold him.

"I know." She finally said. Her voice croaked, and she sniffled a little. "I want to go home too. I miss Bec and I miss my island and my bass guitar and and Prospit. But this had to happen. It was meant to go this way, John. And we can't go home now. But we're on our way to make a new one. We're going to make a new home and we will have all of our friends there and we will all watch your magic tricks John, I promise. You just have to be patient."

John pushed himself away from her and rubbed his eyes. It didn't help. He tried to smile.

"I know." He sighed, trying to calm himself. "I know. Thanks Jade. You're right. We just gotta keep strong, and look on the bright side." She smiled back at him. He looked over at the television. "This is a shitty game." She laughed a little. It sounded pained.

"But you're right! We're on our way to a new place where we can be together and have a great time! And holy shit, look at us Jade! We're on a golden ship flying through space to meet up with aliens and we're wearing cool looking pajamas and have super powers!"

"That's the spirit!" Jade let out a genuine smile this time. This was the John she knew. Pushing onward, as though nothing was wrong because he had cool pajamas.

"And Jaspers is excellent at baking, and we have this comfy pile of squiddle plushies to sit on!"

"Grrrr, don't get me started on that cat!" They laughed. John smiled. Their eyes met. Jade could see the gratefulness in his eyes. His watery blue eyes. She still felt like crying, but her chest filled with warmth. Relief. Everything would be okay.

Better than okay. Everything would work out fine. Probably. "So, um, shall we play this shitty game?"

"It's not shitty, it's great. I lied about it being shitty."

"Ah."


End file.
